Shuffle Challenges Must Be Taken
by gothicorca1895
Summary: A shuffle challenge based on my series of fanfictions Long Shot/Keeping a Secret/A Great Escape . Includes OCs.


_A/N - Decided to do a quick shuffle challenge based on my KFP fandom. For those of you who don't know, a "shuffle challenge" is when you put your mp3 player of choice on shuffle, and then write a short drabble based on the first ten songs it provides. These were mine. Oftentimes the drabble doesn't have much to do with the song, but it's just the idea that popped into my head when I listened to the prompt. If you ever can't tell what the situation is supposed to be, I've placed another author's note at the bottom explaining each ficlet._

_NOTE: IF YOU ARE NOT FAMILIAR WITH MY FANDOM, YOU WON'T UNDERSTAND THIS!_

* * *

1. _Mobile__ - Avril Lavigne_

It should have been enjoyable to wander around the bustling expanse of Gongmen City and revisit places he hadn't seen in years, but it wasn't. Shen would have been perfectly content to never have to come here again, and so far, he didn't feel that this trip was worth it.

"So, how many cannons do you think we'll need in all?" asked Master Storming Ox as he led them to the next site in need of defenses.

Shen consulted the notes that he'd been scribbling on a sheet of paper. "I think...eight at most. Certainly no more than that."

"And when will they be done?" inquired Master Croc.

Across the street, a civilian stopped to gape at Shen in mortification and was nearly run over by a rickshaw. The resulting screech was deafening.

"As soon as possible," muttered the peacock.

...

2. _Alone in the Universe (Reprise)__ - Seussical Original Broadway Cast_

Kurisu clung to Shen's robes, and he shut his eyes remorsefully, reflecting on how bitterly ironic it was that he should end up here. He didn't want to leave her on her own, but he knew he had no choice. If she stayed with him, she would die. And he couldn't let that happen.

So he had to pry her trembling fingers away and move towards the entrance of the cave, as much as it hurt the both of them to do it. But it was an unavoidable sacrifice, a selection of two choices that had been presented to him...

How odd that he should choose the right one for once.

...

3. _Mother Knows Best__ - Donna Murphy_

When Lanying turned fourteen, she asked her mother if they could go out into the city for the day. She wanted to go shopping in the marketplace; specifically, to go to the art supply shop and gaze in wonderment at all the brushes and paints and scrolls. Her parents brought her things from there, but she had never been there herself, and she imagined that it must be wonderful.

But her mother refused. "You are not yet ready to go into the city, my flower," she trilled. "Perhaps when you are older..."

So Lanying asked again when she was fifteen, and again when she was sixteen, and again when she was seventeen. But by the time she turned eighteen, she had realized that it was never going to happen. Her mother wanted to keep her trapped here, no matter how old she was.

And there could be no escape at this point...

...

4. _I Want You__ - Kelly Clarkson_

Shen was receiving more and more defense contracts, and he would depart for days at a time, leaving Lanying behind. He began to accumulate more and more wealth, and he made a point of buying her jewels, flowers, art supplies, even an elaborate scarlet wedding dress...

But that was no replacement for having him gone so often, and she told him so.

"I don't much like it, either," he admitted. "But we need the money, to build our house and pay for the wedding. Don't you want that?"

Lanying shrugged. "Not really. I just want you to promise that you'll be around more once we're married..."

"But, of course," he said. "And that's a promise."

Fortunately, it was a promise that he kept.

...

5. _Alice [Extended Version]__ - Avril Lavigne_

There was an old pig who owned a portrait studio down in the Valley of Peace. He was known for being able to capture the essence of a subject within seconds, and he had been the official portrait artist of the Jade Palace for years now. Lanying was a bit intimidated when Shen encouraged her to apply to him for a job. He certainly didn't sound like he'd be interested in her...

She brought five of her best paintings with her when she went to his studio. When he unfurled them on his table, he managed to keep from gasping audibly, but his stunned blinks were still clear. "And when did you paint these?" he asked.

"They're recent," answered Lanying. "The three of Gongmen City are a few months old, certainly no more than half a year...but the other two are new."

"You're hired."

Lanying stiffened. "Excuse me?"

"I could use you. You're young, you're talented. And you're hired."

It was almost too simple, and when Lanying went up to the Jade Palace to tell everyone the good news, she could hardly believe that what she'd been waiting for all her life had happened so quickly.

...

6. _Hear Me__ - Kelly Clarkson_

It started out so harmlessly. Just a bit of a scratchy throat, and a little cough. But it elevated so quickly into a full-blown cold, and then into something worse. Lady Biming was growing concerned that her patient was nearly comatose now.

And for once it wasn't Shen. It was the soothsayer.

Everyone was worried, but it was the worst for Shen...to the point where when Biming told him just how ill his old Nana had gotten, he fainted. When he woke up, he just...wasn't there. His eyes were blank. He wouldn't speak, wouldn't eat, wouldn't react to anything. His grief had brought him somewhere else entirely.

But he must have been thinking of his Nana still, because one night Biming went in to check on the soothsayer and found him curled up next to her, asleep, trembling in the throes of a nightmare.

What could she do? She let him lie there and sent up a quick prayer to the gods. _Let the soothsayer live, please...or else this family will lose more than just her_...

...

7. _What The Hell__ - Avril Lavigne_

The residents of the Valley of Peace, Lanying was quickly discovering, made a big deal out of new arrivals. During her first few weeks there, many village ladies came up to her and asked her if she'd be interested in going out with them - to taverns, or dances, or parties, or festivals. No matter what event they were planning to head to, she invariably refused.

When Shen caught on to what was happening, he confronted her about it. "I thought you wanted to have friends!" he exclaimed. "You're not going to be able to get anyone to know who you are by just holing yourself up in your room like this..."

"I'm not comfortable enough to go out," Lanying insisted. "I hate crowds and drinking and loud music. I'd have a panic attack for sure if I went with one of those women..."

Shen shook his head in bewilderment. "Lanying, your parents kept you shut in for all those years...but who was the real keeper? Them or you?"

She wasn't sure, but unconsciously, she knew the answer.

...

8._Hallelujah__ - Rufus Wainwright_

_I'm sorry._

That was all Shen could think.

_I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..._

As if he was chick caught sneaking a cookie after bedtime, or a young teenager found after slinking out of the palace to share a drink with the older city kids (both of which were "crimes" that he had been convicted of in his lifetime). Only this time, saying _I'm sorry_ wasn't going to change anything. It wasn't going to make people stop hating him. It wouldn't resurrect the lives that had been taken at the ends of his blades. It couldn't erase the past and make people see him for what he used to be.

_I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry...oh gods, I'm sorry..._

He felt as if a fiery veil was being peeled back from his vision, a screen of madness that had prevented him from seeing things as they really were. _Seeing_. Yes, that was the key. This morning was the first time in decades that he was actually _seeing_. He was seeing that what he had done was not only horrifying and wrong, but it was idiotic; it never would have helped him to achieve his goals. And his goals themselves were idiotic. Acknowledging that made him empty, a hollow shell with no purpose, but he knew that all hope was not lost. He just had to fill himself with something less destructive.

He stared into the mirror mounted on the wall of his room in Dao-ming Temple, and he blinked slowly.

The soothsayer was sitting up on his bed, staring at him. "Shen?" she asked quietly.

Shen turned to her, his eyes resolute, cleared at last of their insanity and venomous tinge. "Nana," he said. "I'm sorry."

...

_9.__The Music of the Night__ - Ramin Karimloo_

It was New Year's Eve, Lanying's second holiday spent in the Valley of Peace. She was currently perched atop the roof of the Jade Palace. Below her, she could see her fiancee's family - soon to be _her_ family - clustered together on the ground, waiting for the spectacle to begin.

A pale shape swooped down beside her, and this time she didn't even flinch. Shen stepped up to her quietly, his gait nearly silent now that he had replaced the metal claws on his feet with padded bandages, making a gentle swishing sound in the cool night breeze. He slipped his wing around her waist. "Any minute now," he said.

Before she had the chance to respond, color exploded across the horizon. Fireworks arched into the sky in bursts of bold cerulean and blazing red, swirling themselves into intricate patterns, abstract and yet self-standing. Her breath caught in her throat. She had never seen Shen's talent in action before, and she felt certain that this display had to be one of his best.

It seemed that she wasn't the only artist around here.

...

10. _Slipped Away_ _- Avril Lavigne_

When Biming opened her eyes, the night had passed. A too-bright sky was suspended above her, searing her sore head with its gray light. Both the ground and the air were still frosty and unforgiving, and the scent of smoke still lingered, making her feel even more muddled and confused.

How had she made it out alive...?

Sitting up was an arduous process, one that made her head spin nauseatingly. She reached up a trembling paw and prodded her forehead with the barest touch. Pain spurted through her, and blood dampened her fingers. The blow to her head had been a nasty one; she probably had a concussion to go with the gash, too. But she was alive.

And then she remembered.

"_Bao Yu_," she gasped, and she scrambled over the crest of the hill, ignoring her pain and dizziness. Maybe there was a chance that Shen hadn't found him - maybe the peacock had gone back after he'd knocked her out - maybe her baby was alive, oh _please_ gods, let him be alive...

Biming skidded down to the bottom of the slope, then looked up fearfully to where the produce cart had been parked just a little while ago. But...how long was "a little while ago?" It felt like mere minutes, but judging by the position of the sun in the sky, it had actually been several hours...

Her heart sank.

The cart was gone.

* * *

_A/N #2 - And now the explanations..._

_1. Set during A Great Escape, right before Shen meets Xuilan and Ming. Doesn't have much to do with the song it's based on._

_2. Set during Cryssy-miu's fic Redeeming Light, when Shen decides to sacrifice himself for Kurisu (though obviously he doesn't die). I know that not all of my readers have read Redeeming Light, but those of you who have will get it._

_3. A little more of Lanying's bitchy mother Yue before any of them met Shen._

_4. Some Shen and Lanying stuff. Again, not much to do with the song._

_5. Some more of Lanying's life after she comes to the Valley, which has exactly jack shit to do with the song._

_6. Based on a roleplay with Cryssy-miu I did a while ago, set before the events of A Great Escape (but obviously after Keeping a Secret, since Biming is there). I never wrote any fanfiction about it, but basically it was about the soothsayer getting sick and how that set off a whole slew of other problems. Shen's "blanking out" was just a part of it._

_7. More random Shen and Lanying interaction, more nothing-to-do-with-respective-song._

_8. Again, based on Redeeming Light. If you've read it, this would be the morning after Shen "visits" the Plains of Enlightenment and has his little breakdown. One of my two favorites._

_9. Random fluff influenced by the beautiful voice of Ramin Karimloo 3_

_10. My other personal favorite. You can probably guess what this is if you've read Keeping a Secret, or even if you've seen KFP2._


End file.
